Ever wanted to be Jesus? Then follow this recipe and turn one meal into three. Freeze the basic sauce in individually tupperwared portions and adapt as you will. Make sure you don’t reheat the sauce more than once, to avoid food poisoning. Jesus didn’t get food poisoning.
Basic sauce
Makes 4-6 portions
Ingredients
olive oil 3 tbsp
onions 3, finely chopped
garlic 3 cloves, crushed and finely chopped
minced beef roughly 1kg
mushrooms 1 pack, chopped finely
tomatoes 2 x 400g tins, pre-chopped
tomato purée 1 tbsp
red wine a slosh
stock cube 1, dissolved in a pint of hot water
salt and pepper to taste
Method for basic sauce
Heat the olive oil in a pan. Add the onions and garlic and cook gently to soften for 5 minutes. Turn up the heat, add the beef to brown it. Keep stirring. When beef is all brown, add mushrooms, tomatoes, tomato purée, wine, stock and seasoning. Put on lid and simmer for 20 minutes, then cook without lid on for 20 minutes to reduce.
Adapt for bolognese
Extra ingredients
any pasta
bacon rashers 2, cut into strips
oregano or basil ½ tsp per portion
Method for bolognese
Cook the bacon in a pan, then reheat the defrosted basic sauce with the herbs. Serve with pasta.
Adapt for chilli con carne
Extra ingredients
rice
kidney beans 1 tin, drained
cumin or paprika or Tabasco or chilli powder to taste
Method for chili con carne
Reheat the defrosted basic sauce in a pan with the kidney beans and whichever optional extra spices. Serve with rice.
Adapt for enchiladas
Extra ingredients
paprika or Tabasco or chilli powder to taste
tortilla wraps
salsa 1 pot
cheddar grated
sour cream
guacamole
Method for enchiladas
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Reheat the defrosted basic sauce in a pan with the spice. Fill tortilla wraps with a small amount of the basic sauce, salsa and sour cream and place in a baking dish. Spread any leftover salsa over the wraps with some grated cheese, and bake in the oven for 10 minutes, or until the cheese has melted. Serve with the remaining sour cream and guacamole.
